Winging It

Motherhood is one hell of a journey. It has its ups and downs, you have good days and bad days, but you have the best job of all: being a parent.

It’s definitely the most rewarding but can also be the most challenging! It’s crazy how many things you learn and how you learn to adapt to keep this tiny little life happy and help them grow, there’s so many things I wish I knew before I actually had Zach, I have spent the last 14 months literally ‘winging it’.

People say ‘once you give birth the hard part is over!’ Sweet Jesus lord. The hard part is not over!! I didn’t realise just how painful contractions were, and while every single birth is different I was quite lucky in the sense that Zach flew into the world after 19 minutes in the delivery suite! I went from 3cm to full blown labour in an hour and didn’t even have chance to think, once he was in the world it was crazy. I wish I knew just how much it hurt AFTER birth. No one tells you how much it hurts and how sore you’ll be, no one mentions how you darent even go to the toilet without fear of your insides falling out, and no one mentions how much it will physically and emotionally test you. What they do tell you though- is just how much love you can have for this tiny, squishy little human that has come to turn your life upside down, this is true.

No one tells you it’s easy, because it isn’t, we’re only human, after all! The first few weeks are a blur of feeding, changing, visits and washing! The bloody washing! Once you try and get yourself into a routine it can all help, although it’s easier said than done with a baby, but it does get easier, I promise.

I wish someone had told me about online support groups! I discovered these when Zach was about 8 weeks old and they helped massively. One in particular runs all sorts of groups and it helped me gain enough courage to venture out and actually meet some mums with babies the similar age as none of my friends had children, which is where I met Lauren, Cara, Jess and Micheala! They’ve been a life saver!

I wish someone had told me just how much being a parent actually does change you, you think you’ll be exactly the same person when actually you won’t be. Or I’m certainly not for that matter. You become protective of everything and everyone, you worry about bath temperature, cutting food up into pieces big enough for them to hold but small enough for them not to choke on, if they’re warm/cool enough! The list goes on! I often wonder what I used to talk about before I had Zach, my whole life revolves around him! If I’m not with him I’m talking about him or buying him clothes!

When I asked the girls what they wish someone had told them I had equally hilarious mixed responses: ‘I wish someone had told me how hard it was to keep their folds clean and dry!’ ‘I wish someone had told me how toddlers are basically little stubborn men in a toddlers body’ and ‘I wish someone had told me that your head will never be the same again, never mind my downstairs, that’s recovered. My brain not so’. And my personal favourite- a lovely video sent in the group chat accompanied with ‘I wish someone had told me my nipple would one day stretch this far!!’ BRILLIANT.

Do you have anything that you wish someone had told you? Or that you didn’t know then but definitely do now? Let us know in the comments! Thank you for reading!